An image of JD Vance allegedly dressed as a woman and wearing a blonde wig was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. The unconfirmed image quickly picked up steam and began trending under the hashtag #SofaLoren, a reference to the iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren and false claims that the Republican senator had sex with a couch.
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Many commenters online connected Vance’s alleged history of cross-dressing with his legislative history—which has long been a point of concern for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
The Ohio senator introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which aims to criminalize medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
The Republican vice presidential pick also supports measures to limit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, and labeled critics of so-called “don’t say gay” legislation “groomers.”
The typo does make this kind of funny ngl. But I won’t be a dick and hide behind it.
Anyway the issue is this: hypocrisy is a very surface level complaint. It’s why no one cares about it besides the people complaining about hypocrisy. The hypocrite and their allies do not give a shit. Do any of us give a shit that Republicans calls anyone not-republican hypocrites everyday? No. We hand wave it away and could not care less. We declare the accusation in bad faith and move on.
What Vance did removes the teeth of their major current social argument: that not conforming to ones gender/gender roles makes one a “sexual deviant.” What he did was also in the past, he’s not currently doing it (most likely). So they can easily say “he was young and stupid this isn’t hypocrisy.” But the LARGER issue is his dressing like that meant nothing at all. It represented nothing dark or wrong about him. He did it for fun and that’s ok even if he refuses to acknowledge it.
This is distinct from saying “the issue is he’s a hypocrite” and frankly I think far more impactful. Hypocrisy on its own doesn’t mean much other than you’re an inconsistent person (ignorant or on purpose), which no one honestly cares about outside of close, personal relationships.